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Verbal — Insults, threats or disrespectful comments about a person’s race, religion, appearance or sexual orientation.
How to respond: Emphasize respect. Build self-confidence and model appropriate responses, says Suzanne Wexler Peck.
Physical — Bodily harm or physical intimidation.
How to respond: Work with the school, Peck says, and don’t contact the other kid's parents. If you’re not getting any response from the school, go to the police.
Relational — Bullying by exclusion.
How to respond: Focus on helping your child develop friends, says Peck, and check in on them daily. Have that “How’d your day go?” discussion every night.
Cyber — Bullying by email, text message or on social media.
How to respond: Disengage and don’t respond, says Carrie Goldman. Block and delete the offensive content, but first gather evidence — take screen shots of malicious Facebook posts or tweets and print them. If someone uploads a vicious YouTube video, download a copy to your computer, then delete everything.
Portions of "Four Types of Bullying" first appeared on Parents.com.
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